PETITION FOR MS. YASAMIN CHEHAILY-SOBY CLF 2000/37909 Dear Minister Ruddock, Yasamin is a Sabian Mandaean from the Islamic Republic of Iran. Mandaeans are a monotheistic Gnostic faith that has survived 1,400 years of persecution at the hands of religious extremists and authoritarian governments in the Middle East. Yasamin escaped persecution in Iran and journeyed to Australia by boat from Indonesia in June of 2000. Yasamin, who is 38 is a widow and has two young boys. Yasamin and her children have been incarcerated in the Curtin Immigration Detention Centre for almost two and a half years and have suffered persecution at the hands of extremist Muslims in the camps. Despite being persecuted in the Islamic Republic of Iran and in the Woomera Detention Centre, Yasamin has been refused Australian protection. Yasamin is very fearful that she will be persecuted upon her return to the Islamic Republic of Iran. Furthermore, all her relatives and friends are fearful that the ongoing incarceration of Yasamin and her young children in Immigration Detention will be very physically and psychologically damaging. As a persecuted Sabian Mandaean, Yasamin is one of only 5,000 who are originally from Iran and is thus akin to an endangered species worthy of our protection. Minister, we the undersigned implore you to lend Yasamin Australia’s protection on humanitarian grounds and to release her and her young boys from Immigration Detention as soon as possible.

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